Mitchell said he was “genuinely humbled to follow in the footsteps of the distinguished speakers of the past,” including Elton Trueblood, Edmund Pellegrino, Joni Eareckson Tada, Leon Kass and Robert P. George.

The lecture series is designed to present insights into current biomedical dilemmas from the Judeo-Christian ethical perspective to students, faculty and staff in medicine, dentistry, nursing and allied health sciences.

“We believe it vital that future health care practitioners are exposed to ethical paradigms besides the moral relativism espoused at most institutions of higher learning today,” said Ryan D. Brown, clinical associate professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. “This lectureship seeks to challenge the student’s thinking using Judeo-Christian guideposts as standards for right and wrong.”

Weiss was a professor of physiology at the University of Oklahoma until his death in 1987. A holocaust survivor, Weiss was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp before being released due to a clerical error. He eventually made his way to Oklahoma and became a scientist.

Mitchell will lecture at campuses in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The lecture is an official function of the campus student chapters of the Christian Medical Dental Association, Baptist Collegiate Ministry and Christian Pharmacists International Fellowship.

In addition to the lectures in Oklahoma, Mitchell will also speak at Cedarville University’s Bioethics Conference Sept. 15-16 at will deliver the James D. Strauss Lectures at Lincoln Christian University Oct. 4-5.